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July 07, 2013

Life, Liberty....

Alternate Title: What? Kristy's Blogging?

Well, hello! The last time I was here the days were getting shorter and colder, which killed my photo-taking energy. And let's chalk up the remaining abscence to inertia. Life has been good in the interim. No huge life changes, but happiness at where I am right now. Oh, except that I did spent a lot of time exercising and getting into shape so I could hike 26 miles (over 4 days) on the Inca Trail in the Andes Mountains and end up in Machu Picchu. That was actually one of the happiest days of my life so far.

But now it's July, hot, and bright, so I have something to show you. Last August, when we were in England, I bought a few pieces of Liberty fabric. This fabric is made in England, and its prints are intricate and iconic. Libery's Tana Lawn fabric is espcially nice for clothing, because it is soft and light, and it has a really nice drape to it. I was nervous about using my fabric for a while because it was pretty expensive, but after a practice dress out of Vogue 8829 (which I will have to show you another time because I love that practice dress), I made this.

I like this dress a lot. I find it easy to wear and be comfortable. I like how the diagonals matched up on the bodice even though I didn't plan for it to work out that way. I do need to go back and re-position the buttons at the bottom of the dress, though. They are just a little bit off from where they need to be and they make the skirt look a little wrinkled.

I modified this pattern in two places. First, I wanted the sleeves to have a little more room, so I added some width to them. I then compensated for that a little bit by putting some elastic around the sleeve hem so they would ruffle a little bit. I was so pleased with this that I added more ruffle around the neckline. I cut about an inch of height off the original neckline, and then added some ruffled fabric around the edge.

I'm happy with this pattern, and I fully intend to use it again. I also really love Liberty Tana Lawn. It's worth the cost if you find prints you really love.

I'll be back again soon. I'm hoping that it won't take 8 months for me to put up another post!